It's finally Friday! (And yes, I may have that classic Friday song stuck in my head - and I'm totally ok with that!) For me most Fridays during the summer mean its time to plan fun activities for the weekend, but this weekend you don't have to wait for 5 o'clock to get here to start having fun because...today is free slurpee day! If you want to have a little more fun you can also dress up as a cow and head over to Chick-fil-A for Cow Appreciation Day, but I'll leave that one up to you! Back to the slurpees. So if for some reason you have never heard of free slurpee day its hosted on by 7-Eleven on you guessed it 7-11 or July 11th (pure genius, right?). So in celebration of free slurpee day here is a great recipe I found on how you can turn your favorite drink into your very own slurpee. Enjoy!

Ingredients

4 cups of ice

2 cups of water

1/4 to 1/2 cup of sugar

Your favorite drink

Directions

Pour 4 cups of ice into a blender.

Pour the crushed ice into a container and place it in the freezer.

Pour 2 cups of water and your sugar into the empty blender and blend thoroughly.

Pour 1 can (your drink) into the blender and blend for approximately 10 seconds.

Take the crushed ice out of the freezer, pour into the blender with your liquid mixture and blend for 15 seconds.

Pour into a cup and enjoy!

You can make your own slurpee flavor creations by combining different drinks and flavors too. What is your favorite slurpee flavor? Have a wonderful weekend!

This past weekend was filled with lots of food, fireworks and fun! Oh and lots of red, white and blue too! If you are like my sister she only packed items that were red, white and/or blue so she was prepared for celebrating all weekend long no matter the occasion called for. I, on the other hand, discovered that I desperately need to stock up on some more red, white and blue patriotic gear before Labor Day weekend gets here. (Sale suggestions anyone? lol) Anyways, here are a few photos from the weekend that I wanted to share with everyone...

A trip to the river is never complete without a delicious batch of Chesapeake Bay blue crabs fixed to perfection by my uncle...

We always like to all join in on a round or two of (friendly?) competition...

There were plenty of red, white and blue treats to enjoy all weekend long...

The group decked out in our finest red, white and blue all ready for the evening's firework show...

And speaking of fireworks (my dad might have a slight obsession with buying fireworks) we got to enjoy a great show overlooking the creek...

For the second year in a row we ran in the Deltaville 5K and some of us came home with a shiny new medal...

Couldn't pass up a nice spin around the creek on the paddleboard,,,

I had so much fun with everyone over the 4th of July weekend and cannot wait to get back down to river later this summer! How did you celebrate this past 4th of July weekend?

While this may not be the most festive day to celebrate (thanks Hurricane Arthur!) it still doesn't mean that you can't have a fun red, white and blue filled holiday weekend - even if that means you have to postpone those fireworks by a day to keep America's Birthday Party rolling! So whether you are heading to the beach, hosting a cookout or catching a ballgame this holiday weekend I hope you all have fun!

What are you doing in celebration of America's Birthday this weekend? My fingers are crossed that my dad didn't go too crazy with his fireworks purchase this year - but that is wishful thinking!

After a few busy months the girls and I were able to get together this past week for another great theme dinner night. And as an added bonus we all got to hangout and watch the University of Virginia baseball team play in the College World Series! Even though they didn't take home the championship trophy they still played amazing and they won the night we watched. (Go WaHoos!!) But back to the dinner...

This month one of the girl's suggested that we try our hand at recipes from the Philippines and it was quite delicious! I took a stab at making Filipino fried rice as a perfect side to the rest of the dishes. It was the perfect accompaniment to the stew that one of the other girl's made! I found out that Filipino fried rice, or Sinangag, is less seasoned than other versions of fried rice and paler in color since there is no soy sauce in the recipe. However, the recipe utilizes the same cooking techniques so I now know how to make any version! Here is the recipe that I used (with a few tweaks of course!)

Sinangag aka Filipino Fried RiceIngredients

6 cups of cold (leftover) white rice

3 cloves crushed minced garlic

1 scrambled egg

2/3 cup of any cooked meat chopped in small pieces (optional)

1/4 cup cooked peas and carrots (other crunchy vegetable)

1/4 cup cooking oil

Chili or red pepper

Salt

Directions

Cook 6 cups of rice per container instructions. Once cooked allow to cool and place in fridge. (Leftover steamed rice that has been refrigerated makes the best fried rice.)

When you are ready to make the fried rice heat the cooking oil in a big frying pan or large wok.

Next add the minced garlic and fry until golden brown, set aside.

Add the rice to wok and mix for about 5 minutes to release the starch.

Once the rice has been heated add the meat, scrambled egg and veggies. You can also add your pepper and salt for taste at this time.

For the rest of the meal we had lumpia, a beef and potato stew (that for the life of me I cannot remember its name but it might have been kaldereta) and bibingka for dessert. I totally forgot to take a picture of the cake but it was very delicious and I don't event like coconut!!

Do you have a Filipino recipe that you like to make? Be sure to share your favorites in the comments section below!

The 4th of July is just 1 week away so it's time to pull out those red, white and blue recipes and get ready to celebrate! Instead of waiting to start enjoying some festive red, white and blue treats this year I found two great red, white and blue breakfast treats that would be perfect to prepare for the holiday weekend.

Preheat oven to 375. Line 18 regular muffin tins with paper liners. Set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

In a new bowl, cream together butter and sugar and beat on medium high until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Lower the speed to medium low and add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition followed by the vanilla.

With the mixer on the lowest setting, alternate mixing in the flour mixture and the yogurt, beginning and ending with the flour (this step is to prevent the batter from curdling).

Once everything has been mixed together gently fold in the blueberries and raspberries.

Spoon the batter into the muffin cups and then sprinkle each cup with a little bit of the granulated sugar.

Bake the muffins for 20-25 minutes (or 12-15 minutes for mini muffins), or until the muffins are golden brown and the center muffins bounce back up when touched. Enjoy!

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone mat.

Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl. Drop in the butter and, using your fingers, toss to coat the pieces of butter with flour. Use your fingers or a pastry blender, cut and rub the butter into the dry ingredients. You will have some small pea size pieces of butter and that is fine. Gently stir in the blueberries and strawberries.

In a small glass measuring cup or bowl, whisk together the egg, heavy cream, and vanilla extract. Pour mixture over the dry ingredients and stir with a spatula just until the dough comes together. Carefully knead the dough by hand, just until the dough comes together.

Lightly dust a work surface with flour and turn out the dough. Pat the dough into a circle. Gently roll out the dough. You want the dough to be about an inch thick. Cut the dough into star shapes using a cookie cutter. Place the scones on the prepared baking sheet, about 2 inches apart. Lightly brush the scones with cream and sprinkle with turbinado sugar.

Bake for 12-14 minutes, or until golden brown. Transfer scones to a rack and cool to cool to room temperature. Once cooled, drizzle each scone with white chocolate. Let stand until chocolate is dry.

Do you have any other fun red, white and blue breakfast ideas? Have a wonderful weekend!

Wedding weekends are always filled with celebration and fun. However, for the out-of-town guests it can sometimes get a little overwhelming when you first arrive as you are not familiar with the area or know exactly where anything is happening. A great way to solve this problem for all your out-of-town guests? A wedding welcome bag! Here are some of my favorite items to include in a wedding welcome bag...

1. Map of the Area. While you and the wedding party will be booked from the minute you get to town until you leave your guests will probably have some free time on their hands. Include a map with your wedding event locations already marked for your guests as well as recommended places to eat and fun places to go. 2. Welcome Door Hanger. This is a cute way to welcome your guests, say thank you for coming and gives them a cute sign to hang on the door for the morning after. This one if from etsy store Diva Gone Domestic Too. 3. Bottle Water. This is a welcome bag must! After a fun night of (too much?) drinking your guests will love that they have water sitting right next to their bed so they don't even have to get up.4. Mints of Gum. With all the hopping around from one location to the next and partying until the wee hours in celebration of the newly weds, something to freshen the breath will definitely come in handy. 5. Snacks. After a day of traveling having snacks waiting for your guests upon arrival is the perfect solution. For a more personal touch select snacks that are special to the area or are favorites of the bride and groom. 6. Mini Emergency Items. Including travel size or a DIY emergency kit in your welcome bags will save a guest or two from having to run to CVS during their weekend stay. You can check out this past post I did for a full wedding survival kit list. (A hangover kit works wonders too!)7. Local Mementos. Show your guests why you love where you are getting married by including a memento that they can enjoy or take with them. This could be a souvenir or a special treat from your favorite eatery. 8. Chocolate. You can NEVER go wrong with adding chocolate to a welcome bag (unless you are allergic of course).

And if the thought of doing one more DIY project for your wedding will send you over the edge there are great companies, like Bow Tie Bags, that will make them for you! Have you created a welcome bag before? What did you include in your bags?

The first day of summer is tomorrow and that means it is flip flop season! Today is actually National Flip Flop Day so its the perfect time to stash all those other shoes away, get a pedicure and rock those flops all summer long! So in celebration of this wonderful summertime holiday here is a great (and super easy) recipe on how you can make your own flip flop cookies.

Ingredients

Nutter Butter Cookies

Icing

Sprinkles or Decorative Candy

Directions

Pull Nutter Butters out of package.

Pipe two lines of icing on the cookies to create the straps.

Add flip flop decorations for some extra fun and enjoy!

And while you are enjoying your flip flop cookies you can whip up a batch of drinks called "Flip Flop" that was created by Lolita. (I just love all their glassware designs!!)

You might not realize it but the color or colors that you choose for your event say a lot. Beyond their obvious reasoning for your decor, color at events can help create certain moods and get your main event message across. However, choosing the wrong color or group of colors could send the wrong message. To make sure you are sending the right message at your event check out the moods that these common colors can create at an events...

One of the very first girl's night theme dinners that I went to we made dishes from the wonderful country of Brazil. With all the world enamored with all things Brazil right now as we watch the FIFA World Cup I thought it would be fun to share with you one of the other delicious recipes that my friend Emily made for that Brazil theme dinner and is perfect for a World Cup watch party.

The World Cup officially kicks off today down in Brazil with the host country's team taking on Croatia in their first group match. Since everyone has World Cup fever so I thought today would be the perfect time to share with you some of my favorite ideas for hosting a soccer party.

We all know that you can't host a party without decorations. Since the World Cup will be lasting a couple of weeks I found some easy soccer decoration ideas that are easy to put together and you can use throughout the entire cup. An easy DIY decoration idea is to create flag toothpicks for your team or all the teams that are playing in the world cup like these from blogger In Good Company.

Even if you are setting everyone up in front of the TV these table decoration ideas are easy to customize for any soccer party setting. You can fill an empty apothecary jar with small soccer balls, like the blogger from Paisley Petal Events did, or create your own soccer field with a plastic green table cloth and while electrical tape.

If you have ever been to a profession soccer game or watched one on TV you might have heard a constant loud noise in the air. Soccer fans are famous for their noise makers at games to cheers on their team. Just because you might not be sitting in the stands doesn't mean you can't have your own vuvuzela, or stadium horn, too. Blogger Lindsey from Filth Wizardry came up with a great craft idea on how you can make your own stadium horn.

Don't forget the desserts! Those gingerbread cookie cutters that you probably have stashed away for the summer? Dig them out now to create your own soccer player boys like these from In Good Company. You can decorate your cookies to match your team colors. If gingerbread cookie decorating seems like it would be a bit of a challenge you can whip up a batch of cupcakes and put them together to create one big soccer ball cake like blogger Dukes & Duchesses did. Either option sounds delicious to me!

And to make sure you don't miss a single match here is the complete FIFA World Cup Schedule.

Team USA isn't playing until Monday, but there are still plenty of exciting matches to watch between now and then. For more World Cup information you can head on over to the FIFA website here. Are you going to be watching the World Cup this year? Who are you hoping to see win? Good team USA!

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